Hansbrough powers UNC to Final Four

Sunday

Mar 30, 2008 at 12:01 AMMar 30, 2008 at 1:18 PM

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- This time, North Carolina got to celebrate instead of heading to the locker room to wait for next year. Tyler Hansbrough and the top-seeded Tar Heels just wouldn't be denied a trip to the Final Four again.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- This time, North Carolina got to celebrate instead of heading to the locker room to wait for next year. Tyler Hansbrough and the top-seeded Tar Heels just wouldn't be denied a trip to the Final Four again.

Hansbrough had 28 points and 13 rebounds last night to help the Tar Heels hold off Louisville 83-73 in the East Regional final. Playing in front of a partisan home-state crowd, they reached the national semifinals for the first time since winning the championship in 2005.

The Tar Heels (36-2) advanced to play the Kansas-Davidson winner Saturday in San Antonio.

Ty Lawson added 11 points -- including a key three-pointer with about five minutes left -- for North Carolina. The Tar Heels blew a 12-point halftime lead, then broke away from a tie at 59 to secure their 17th trip to the Final Four.

It was a reversal of last year's regional final in which the Tar Heels fell apart down the stretch, wasted a double-digit lead in the second half and lost to Georgetown in overtime.

Last year, nobody could hit a shot when the Tar Heels needed one most against the Hoyas in a loss that had stayed with them all season. But this time, Hansbrough and Lawson came through with the three biggest shots of the season to maintain North Carolina's tenuous second-half lead.

"That was in the back of a lot of our minds," Hansbrough said. "The difference this year was that we handled that a lot better and we came down and got some points, and just fought back until we had a run."

The Tar Heels have won all four of their games in this tournament by double digits. All four victories came in their home state, too.

Battling against David Padgett in a physical contest inside, Hansbrough finished 12 of 17 from the floor in 38 minutes and was named regional MVP. Meanwhile, Lawson had nine assists while operating as a one-man press breaker against the third-seeded Cardinals (27-9) and their full-court defense all night.

Jerry Smith scored 17 points to lead Louisville, which shot 53 percent from the field and gave the Tar Heels all they could handle in front of a blue-clad crowd. But ultimately, North Carolina proved it had learned the lessons from last year.

First, with the Tar Heels clinging to a 68-64 lead, Lawson came around the baseline and made a three-pointer from the corner in front of his bench that pushed the margin to seven. Then, after a basket from Earl Clark inside, Hansbrough knocked down a straightaway jumper over the 6-foot-11 Padgett to make it 73-66 with 2:27 to play.

Hansbrough essentially closed the door on the next possession. The 6-9 junior got the ball on the left wing with the shot clock winding down, then pump-faked to get Clark up in the air and step in for another jumper over Padgett. The ball swished through while Hansbrough was knocked to the ground, pushing the lead to 75-66 with 1:33 left.

"You see the guy as a junior and he's getting his jersey retired and you're like, 'Why?' " said Terrence Williams, who had 14 points for Louisville. "Then you play against him and you say, 'That's why.' He'll go through the floor just to get a rebound. He's a great player."

The Tar Heels went 8 of 8 at the foul line to seal it in the final minute.

That steady hand was quite a change from last year's loss to the Hoyas, in which North Carolina let an 11-point lead slip away in the 96-84 loss.

"We were ready," Lawson said. "We knew we were not going to let what happened last year happen this year."

The Tar Heels shot 53 percent from the field to become the first team to hit better than 50 percent against Louisville.

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